The purpose of this award is to support the participation of undergraduate students at the 112th Annual American Ceramic Society (ACerS) meeting to be held in conjunction with the annual 2010 Materials Science and Technology Meeting (MS&T-10) in Houston, TX, October 17-21, 2010. This meeting brings together people across the entire spectrum of activities in the Ceramics community. The funds will be used to cover the cost of conference registration, travel to Houston, TX and per diem for 20 US students. The costs of a facility tour during the conference, as well as participation in the ACerS Annual Awards and Honors Banquet, will also be covered. All the students will be expected to give an oral presentation at the meeting, assuming his or her abstract is accepted.
," funding for 15 undergraduate students to attend the MS&T’10 conference. The project and event was organized by the American Ceramic Society’s President’s Council of Student Advisors. The participating undergraduate students were from 8 different universities in 7 different states and consisted of 10 females and 5 males. The grant covered travel expenses for the awardees to attend a symposium focused on student related subjects including information on preparing materials science outreach demos for K-12 audiences. The students also participated in a facility tour of NASA Johnson Space Center in order to see research outside of an academic setting. The purpose of the symposium was to provide a less-intimidation venue for student’s undergraduate professional development by providing them with the opportunity to work on their oral presentations skills. The conference itself benefited by having the groups of students since representatives from industry and academia had access to future leaders of the ceramics and materials community while the students themselves had the opportunity to network with these representatives for further professional development. The response of the students was encouraging since most found the tour of NASA, the symposium, and the networking both educational and helpful in their professional development. Suggestions for improvement made by the students will be taken to heart to improve the effectiveness of the symposium.
